The invention relates to marine propulsion devices such as outboard motors and stern drive units and, more particularly, to such marine propulsion devices including means for protecting the propeller against engagement with underwater objects.
Various guard arrangements have been proposed to protect the propeller of marine propulsion devices, such as outboard motors and stern drive units, against damage by floating or submerged objects such as driftwood and other debris. Prior art propeller guard arrangements typically are quite expensive, are limited somewhat to a particular propeller size or shape and/or tend to affect propeller performance. Examples of prior propeller guard constructions are disclosed in the Modin U.S. Pat. No. 1,869,977 issued Aug. 2, 1932, the Brown U.S. Pat. No. 2,894,447 issued July 14, 1959 and the Liaaen Canadian Pat. No. 509,171 issued Jan. 18, 1965.